Head Coach Kerri Jacklets enters her seventh season as Head Coach of the Friars.

Feb. 15, 2012

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -The softball team opens its season on Friday, February 17 in Miami, Fla. in the FIU Blue & Gold Felsberg Memorial Tournament. The Friars will play five games in three days, opening with a pair of games on Friday versus South Carolina and host Florida International. On Saturday, February 18, the Friars take on Jacksonville and BIG EAST foe Villanova, while on Sunday, February 19 the Friars play their final game of the tournament against UIC.

The 2012 Providence College softball team will look to reach the BIG EAST Championships for the third consecutive year. The Friars return eight players to their 2011 roster, including three seniors, while bringing in eight new players to the fold. Senior Jen Abrams (Reading, Mass.) looks to have another strong season for the Friars. The utility player led the Friars last year with 61 hits, 35 runs scored, and 100 total bases. Senior Michelle Huber (Dana Point, Calif.) returns to the outfield for the Friars only 15 stolen bases shy of tying the school record of 64. Huber started all 53 games and scored 34 runs, 18 walks, and a .419 on-base percentage. Junior Jessie Bryant (Marlborough, Mass.) is coming off a strong season for the Friars in which she led the team in home runs (11), RBIs (39), walks (24), on-base percentage (.433) and slugging percentage (.610). Bryant also posted a .336 batting average after starting all 53 games for the Friars.

Senior Alicia Grosso (Baldwin, N.Y.) and junior Corinne Clauss (Davie, Fla.) return to the Friar pitching staff after each had 11 wins last season. Clauss led the Friars with 18 complete games and four shutouts while Grosso had 15 complete games and 2 shutouts last season.

The Friars are led by Head Coach Kerri Jacklets who is in her seventh season with the team. Jacklets will be looking to lead the Friars to the BIG EAST Tournament for the fifth time in her career. Assistant Coach Erica Morgenstein is in her sixth season with the Friars while Assistant Coach Teri Morgan begins her third season. Morgan's husband, Chris, is in his first season as an Assistant Coach for the Friars.

The Friars will participate in three more tournaments before their first home series of the season versus the Fairfield Stags. The Friars will host the Stags on Saturday, March 24, in a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.